Category: Sports

Clearly a compromise between local tennis and pickleball players must be sought, before more angry public arguments, yelling and disruptions through acts of faux civil disobedience lead to fisticuffs or worse.

After months of simmering, the conflict between pickleball and tennis players burst out into the open over the weekend when a group of pickleball players ambushed staff at the Peninsula Tennis Club  and took over tennis courts for about 40 minutes. Staff called in San Diego Police and eventually the scene quieted down when the pickleball players left.

In response to a report of an incident at the Peninsula Tennis Club over the weekend, posted by the Rag Monday, here is the video shot by the pickle ball players, showing their side of what happened.

by Ernie McCray

I finished reading
the U-T
and thought I would
watch a little TV
to see what was going on
in the world that might interest me
and before I knew it
soft tears were rolling
from my eyes
after hearing that
Bill Russell
had died,

From the Third Option / July 22, 2022

Public park tennis in San Diego began a hundred years ago this month when players raised $5,000 to build what is now the Balboa Tennis Club.

The number one racket sport in the country is also the fastest-growing, with 6.8 million new and returning tennis players in 2020 alone— a growth spurt of 22%. Research claims it adds ten years to a player’s lifespan; data also reveals it to be the safest sport to play during a pandemic.

by Ernie McCray

Brittney Grinder.
WNBA superstar.
Sits in a Russian lockup far
from where she displays
her hoops wizardry
on the court with the Phoenix Mercury,
and to her predicament her coach says
“If this was LeBron James
he’d be home, right?”
to which I say
“Not likely,”
not with all that’s going on
in these moments in time,
a war of a kind,
between two arch enemies,

By Editors / Times of San Diego / June 7, 2022

Every batter in the Point Loma Nazarene lineup recorded a hit Monday as the Sea Lions enjoyed a 11-3 victory over No. 3 seed Southern Arkansas.

With their 50th win of the season, No. 2 PLNU became the first team with two wins in the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in Cary, N.C., moving within one win of a spot in the weekend best-of-three series for the national title.

By Judi Curry

People that know me are aware that I enjoy most sports. I frequently went to the Chargers game – or Patriot’s games when I lived in Maine; I went to baseball games at Dodger Stadium since I was a little girl – a hundred years ago. I attending Horse Racing all over California, Arizona and Maine; My grandkids played a variety of sports – rugby, soccer, softball, and a grandson was a wrestling champion not all that long ago. I attended their game/matches whenever I could. Every now and
then my husband and I would attend a Gulls Ice Hockey game, and it was enjoyed.

However, those same people that know about my enjoyment of those sports are now aware of my distaste for Ice Hockey. My problem is that Steve has season tickets to the Gulls game; his seats are one row back from the goal, and we have a practically unobstructed view of the game. Perhaps that is some of the problem for me. If Ice Hockey were the only thing played it would be great,

Matt Monagan / mlb.com news / February 28th, 2022

“It’s a place you wanna come to work to every day.”

Most people, if they’re being honest, don’t say that about their jobs.

Then again, most people aren’t Steven Riddle; manager of athletic facilities at Point Loma Nazarene University. Most of us don’t get to work in baseball paradise — along the breezy, dreamy Pacific coast of “America’s Most Scenic Ballpark.”

Since the 1970s, the Point Loma Nazarene University Sea Lions have been lucky to call this seaside oasis — dangling ever so gently off downtown San Diego — home. Baseball writer Kevin Kernan gave the ballpark its “Most Scenic” moniker in the mid-’90s — a trademark the school has run with ever since. They put it on their scoreboard and all over their athletic website and, I mean, why not? It fits.

by Ernie McCray

I can’t remember who the player was
in all the March Madness
the other day
but he
grabbed a rebound
with such power and grace
it etched a “Wow” in the expression on my face
and he had a look on his face
that I used to have when I played,

by Ernie McCray

Oh, how about those Wildcats,
the way they get after it,
winning both the
Pac-12 regular season
and the Pac-12 Tournament
basketball championships
looking, to me, better
than any Arizona team I’ve ever seen

By Geoff Page

Pickleball versus Tennis

The clash of an old venerable sport and a much, much younger, but fast-growing sport was the highlight of the regular monthly meeting of the Ocean Beach Planning Board, Wednesday, March 2nd.

The sport with a history that goes back about 1,000 years is tennis. The younger sport with a history that only goes as far back as 1965 is called pickleball.

It is important to deal with its name first. Here is the explanation

By Colleen O’Connor

Who knew this was a veritable dust storm?

Two sports fighting for space in a City renowned for its athletics and for its champions.

Yet, here we are. Pickleball enthusiasts (a growing sport among those capable with playing without years of rigid rules and practice) moving to takeover former Muni tennis courts (or, at least) paint the ionic tennis courts with different lines.

Tonight at 6 pm, the OB Planning Board meets and will take up the Pickleball push to take over tennis courts.